How Far We've Come
by Divine Sally Bowles
Summary: Oneshot. A rewrite of Haley's matron of honor speech at Brooke's wedding, and Haley telling Nathan the baby's sex. Naley, Brulian, and Baley. Don't flame me if you don't like my opinions on the speech, please.


**A/N: Hi, everybody! Well, I don't know about the rest of you- -I've seen various opinions- -but I wasn't too pleased with Haley's speech at Brooke and Julian's wedding. The inaccuracies about how Brooke and Haley became friends aside, I would have preferred it to be more about how far Brooke has come as a person and how she and Julian gave each other a chance and fell in love. A mention or two of Lucas and Peyton would have been nice, since they couldn't be there. So I rewrote the speech into what I would have liked to have seen her say, and also added, as a precaution, a Naley scene I felt we should have gotten, just in case the show decides to skip over her telling Nathan it's a girl.**

**All that aside, I'd appreciate reviews. Don't, however, flame me just because of my opinions on how the actual speech turned out; I'll have my opinion and you'll have yours, and you're not going to change mine by flaming me. Thanks for looking, and please tell me what you think!**

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How Far We've Come

She stands, walking to the front of the room, taking the microphone Jamie left for her. She doesn't get nervous in front of crowds like this, or at least, she isn't nervous now. It comes from being a singer. She likes to think of her nerves at Lucas and Peyton's wedding as attributable to getting asked to be the minister maybe two hours before the ceremony. Matron of honor, though, that's a position she's more comfortable with. You don't have as many sisters as Haley James without being a bridesmaid more than a few times.

She picks up the microphone, feeling it—that excitement at being in front of a crowd, even if she's not singing. Growing up as the youngest in a chaotic household, sometimes it was hard to be heard. Times like this, with the microphone in front of her and everyone listening, she feels like she's finally getting that recognition.

"Hi, everyone. I'm Haley, the matron of honor. And there's no doubt that you probably know that already, if you're here." She gives a little smile, looking over at Nathan. "What you might not know is the story of how all of us really got here. I should start by saying that I got married during my junior year of high school. And when Nathan and I got married, Brooke was so convinced that there had to be a reason, some kind of ulterior motive. She didn't think kids our age—or maybe anyone—could marry for love."

At this, Victoria Davis looks away.

"And Peyton Sawyer once told me that Brooke's exact words were that she'd marry a rich guy, unless she got fat." The guests all laugh, and Brooke gives a sheepish smile, hiding her face. She can barely remember those days.

"When I renewed my vows, Brooke was the one who designed my wedding dress. She was my maid of honor, and then Peyton's_—'always a bridesmaid, never a bride.'_ She was as happy to do it for us as we were happy to have her, but each time, we were wondering when it would be her turn. That day has arrived.

"We always knew that there was someone out there for Brooke. It took longer for her than it did for the rest of us, but we all held out hope. And then came Julian Baker. He wasn't exactly the nicest guy in the world, not at first. He'd had a harder road than any of us would have thought. And when he asked Brooke to design costumes for his movie, she wasn't sure if she wanted to give him the time of day.

"That lasted until Julian proved to her the type of guy he really was. When one of my students, Brooke's foster daughter Samantha, went missing, Julian was two steps ahead of her. He showed the same devotion to Samantha that Brooke did. And I think that's when we all started to realize that he wasn't a bad guy at all."

Brooke reaches under the table, squeezing Julian's hand. She always thinks back to that night whenever she reflects on how far they've come. It's impossible not to. She'd thought of him as an ass, someone not worth her time, only to realize she'd been wrong the whole time.

"_Lemme guess. Her name is Sam and she puts a lot of sugar in her coffee."_

"_Have you seen her?"_

"_No, but that cute guy that just left asked me the exact same thing."_

_She turned and ran out to the street, just in time to catch Julian chucking the coffee he'd paid for into a wastebasket, walking away without looking back. And she watched him until he disappeared, trying to fight the part of her that was simultaneously furious for not thinking of this place earlier as somewhere Sam would go and touched at his concern._

_People could still surprise her._

The obviously nostalgic looks on her friends' faces makes Haley smile, and she carries on. "When I was sixteen, I never thought I'd be standing here. When I was sixteen, my idea of the perfect date was watching Brooke Davis get hit by a bus, and I never thought I'd be standing up as the matron of honor at her wedding. But in honor of Brooke and our absent friends Lucas and Peyton, who should be here with us today, I'm more than happy to offer my heartfelt good wishes for their future. To Brooke and Julian, and to being man and wife. Good luck, you two, and I love you both."

Brooke gives her a teary smile and a mouthed _thank you_ as she goes to sit back down, and Haley takes her hand quickly as she passes, giving it a brief squeeze. Haley goes back to her place at the end of their table, leaning over to where Nathan sits at the next.

"You did great," he says into her lips as she gives him a soft kiss, and she smiles as she pulls away.

"I was shown up by an eight-year-old. But thank you."

Nathan wraps his hand around hers as the music starts up again, as Brooke and Julian take the floor for another dance and as the other couples join in. She stands, joining him on the dance floor. It's a little awkward with her bump between them, but they manage, and she sees Nathan's smile as they dance.

She rests her head against his chest, closing her eyes for a few seconds. "We've come pretty far, huh?" she murmurs, and the hand that holds hers squeezes.

"Farther than I thought we all would, that's for sure." Nathan kisses the top of her head. "You doing all right, baby? Not too stressed?"

"Nathan, I'm fine," she laughs, knowing he gave her more than a few warnings not to overdo it today, what with the baby. "Actually, I'm wonderful. There's… some news I wanted to share with you and Jamie, actually. I just wanted you to know first."

He gives her a look, the smile on his face expectant now, and she knows that he can tell what she's about to say. "Well, I got a call from the doctor, and… it's a girl!"

She would have thought his excitement would be different the second time around, lessened, but no. He gives that same smile he gave her the minute she told him they were having a boy, and he moves his hand from her lower back to behind her neck, tilting her face to his and giving her a long, passionate kiss. She laughs into it, happily, and as they break apart, she joins their hands again.

"Are you happy?" she asks softly, though she knows the answer, has known it for a long time.

Before he answers, he gives a quick glance over the dance floor, at the other happy couples. At Brooke and Julian, finally married after the last few turbulent years. He looks back to his wife, one he never would have thought he'd have in his younger days, but who has stayed with him for all these years, who's now having his second child. He looks to his son, dancing with Madison, smiling and still with them after so many times where they could have lost him.

And he kisses the top of his wife's head, letting out a breath and smiling. "Yeah. I am."


End file.
